“It is costly, disruptive to local communities, and endangers the local population by recklessly allowing foreign troops to use our land and water territories as war playground.”
MANILA – Progressive groups trooped to the Armed Forces of the Philippines headquarters in Quezon City on Monday, April 20, to denounce another round of joint military exercises in the country.
Balikatan 2026, the 41st in the annual bilateral exercise between the Philippines and the US, held an opening ceremony today for what is reported to be the largest joint military exercise.
Umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) denounced the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for expanding the scope and scale of Balikatan exercises amid the ongoing US acts of aggression in West Asia and the economic and energy crisis it has caused.
The group said the joint military exercise reflect the expanding intervention of the US military and the subservient foreign policy of the Marcos administration.
“It is costly, disruptive to local communities, and endangers the local population by recklessly allowing foreign troops to use our land and water territories as war playground,” the group said in a statement.
Read: Int’l mission confirms disruption of residents’ lives due to US–PH military exercises
According to a report, the AFP and the US forces will hold multilateral operational training beginning this week across all domains: air, land, sea, space and cyber. Logistics, transportation and off-loading of equipment began even prior to this week’s opening.
“We should not allow war criminals and our former colonizers to preposition their war materiel and conduct drills in various parts of the country to train their troops and test their weapons. The Philippines should not be made into a training and staging ground of the US to attack other nations,” Bayan said.
House Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Elago also slammed the Marcos Jr administration.
“The Marcos Jr. administration is acting as if the United States is not waging wars and escalating military tensions abroad. Pushing through with the largest Balikatan yet, with over 17,000 troops, only deepens the Philippines’ alignment with these conflicts and places our people on the frontlines,” Elago said.
Contributed photo
Elago said US Naval Ship Seay, docked at Macabalan Port in Cagayan de Oro City is part of Balikatan activities and is being used to offload military equipment, which are then transported via commercial ro-ro vessels from Northern Mindanao to Subic Bay in Zambales.
Read: Philippines as a US military base?
“Using civilian infrastructure such as ports and commercial vessels for foreign military operations blurs the line between civilian and military spaces. This puts ordinary Filipinos in harm’s way and makes our communities potential targets in the event of armed conflict,” Elago warned.
USNS vessels are owned by the US Navy but are non-commissioned ships that are crewed by civilians.
‘Hypocritical’
Bayan said it is reckless and hypocritical for the Marcos government to expand the Balikatan while urging Filipinos to conserve energy.
“Military exercises use excessive energy resources aside from gravely impacting the environment. The funds used for hosting the Balikatan should be allotted to expand social services and fuel subsidies,” the group said.
Bayan said Filipinos can barely afford their daily needs but the “priority of the Marcos government is to entrench US military presence and support the fascist and imperialist agenda of Trump and the US government.”
This year’s Balikatan will include live fire drills, the us of surface missiles and the delivery of equipment from Mindanao to Luzon.
Meanwhile, fisherfolk group Pamalakaya said almost 5,000 registered fisherfolk in Subic, Zambales will be most likely to be affected by the 11-day no-sail zone policy due to Balikatan military exercise.
The group added that fishing activities in some parts of the Subic Bay are temporarily restricted for about 11 days to pave the way for the multilateral military drills involving maritime, air, and live-fire components.
“In the midst of the economic crisis brought about by the geopolitical tensions, Filipino fishers do not deserve to be restricted from their livelihood. We cannot allow this same country that instigated a war in the Middle East and triggered a crisis, to hold its military drills in our soil,” the group said in a statement reiterating their strong objection to the military exercises.
Contributed photo
The group stressed that this joint military exercise is a “threat to national security, sovereignty, and disruption to economic activities.”
“How can the Marcos administration sacrifice the fishing rights of Filipinos at the altar of U.S. geopolitical agenda? The supposed defense readiness amid the growing regional security concerns is not actually an immediate concern for us and has nothing to do with our daily lives,” Pamalakaya said.
Joey Marabe, Pamalakaya-Zambales coordinator, in a statement said that in these trying times, the last thing the Filipino fishers need is foreign troops conducting missile testing and amphibious landing exercises in their fishing waters and coastal communities.
“We need immediate and concrete solutions to stabilize the prices of fuel products and other basic commodities,” Marabe said.
Bayan stressed that the joint military exercise is not the path to peace, development and genuine sovereignty, “but a treasonous undertaking that could further escalate conflict in the region.”
“The Marcos government is paving the way for the US war machine to boost its horrific range from West Asia to West Philippine Sea,” Bayan said.
They called on fellow freedom-loving Filipinos to reject Balikatan and to demand the immediate dismantling of US military bases in EDCA sites and other military facilities.
“We should also demand the removal of Typhon, Nmesis, Tomahawk, Type 88 and other missile systems from our communities. We should condemn the complicity of the Marcos government in enabling the war crimes of the US, and assert that our country should pursue an independent foreign policy,” Bayan said. (JDS, RVO)
The post Progressives protest Balikatan exercise amid US aggression, energy crisis appeared first on Bulatlat.
From Bulatlat via This RSS Feed.